Episode 49
"It feels so nice to experience this place at last. Viewing from a distance can get so...boring. We felt a visitation in person was warranted. As thanks. And as a warning that your time is running out." - Lady Devakir Deciding to move on the suspicious occupants of the nearby crater, the group find it now deserted...of corporeal life. Where once there were troopers and crates, now vast tendrils of corrupting darkness pour forth. It seems whoever they had spotted before was successful... Session The Caldera The Hidden Vessel * Deciding to figure out its purpose, Vesh, Vraeso and Tira venture into the ship behind the construct. ** Hoping it would be abandoned, but fearing the worst, they check for traps, finding none. * What they discover is a rather compact vessel, somewhere between lavish and oddly bare. ** A central common area leads up to the cockpit, while a sharp left takes them to what seems like personal quarters, and a right reveals a path to the hyperdrive reactor. * They slowly made their way up to the cockpit, still being wary of an ambush. ** Much like before, they find it empty. Power seemed to be operating at a bare minimum, lights on but dimmed, and two faintly flashing buttons on a nearby vidscreen. ** Declaring it to be safe, Vraeso and Vesh press the first button. *** It shows a recorded video, the figure in robes they had spotted before sat facing off screen. They speak of sacrifices and their idiocy, and how The Prophet '''and Lady Devakir had granted them an alternative route should the sacrifices have danced off their predicted path. *** The figure then turned to the screen, directly addressing the party, calling them 'Sacrifices'. He warns that this is just the beginning, yet the Prophet wanted this to be fair, and so he was instructed to leave behind a message for them. He then told Vesh to contact home before it was too late. ** As the video ended, everybody checked around, sensing the ominous ending to that message suggested a trap, but were proven wrong. ** Pressing the second button, they were linked to the ship's navicomputer. *** First was its last recorded destination, '''Zhiju (see RN1 below). *** Then, a series of locations, under the callsign Operation: Deva (see RN2) **** Some were places the Party had been to before, while others were unknown to them. Tira suspected this to mean they had go to these new locations. A Home Visit * Feeling like they had achieved all they wanted to achieve, the group returned to the Exodus and took off for the Besradii Nova, choosing not to pursue the leads on the Imperial facility. * During the 13-hour journey, Tira privately begins the first of several attempts to write a letter home. ** She is interrupted by first Vraeso, then Yeni, then Vesh and Duna. ** Initially opening up to Vraeso, the sudden influx of other people makes her retreat and she doesn't reveal anything more when asked. A Return Trip * Landing safely back at the Nova, the group are rapidly summoned to the Republic Embassy by Cerria Harrik. ** Vesh and Vraeso go to meet her ** Yeni escorts Duna to the Medbay while Tira goes for a calm wander. * Upon meeting her there, Vesh and Vraeso find her over-stressed, and further dismayed when they say they didn't really find anything of note during their visit to Charros. ** She then departs for her private room. * The nearby technician, who introduces himself as Taynen, is frantically trying to make sense of recent comms traffic in the last two days. ** Whole planets, he relays, have disappeared from the network before they began to frantically emit all sorts of weird communications. ** When he begins to list off some of the planets, Vesh asks if they match the ones they found, showing the files. *** He agrees, saying that its not just standard traffic. There is a Temple Emergency Code from Tython, Hutt Panic codes from Hutta and Nar Shaddaa, alongside High Imperial frequencies blaring from their holy worlds. * A piercing sound then begins to emit from the frequencies, with Vraeso and Taynen rushing over to a nearby holomap as they map out the locations. ** Vesh contacts the Orb, asking her to shut out whatever is emitting this, but she states she is unable, before implying she is no longer in control. ** Vesh then orders everybody to assemble and try and shut down whatever is blaring this noise. *** But nobody responds, with Vesh noticing the station to be entirely absent now as he ascended the elevator to Nexus Command. **** Checking the security feeds, Vraeso is seen now talking to an empty room, though to him he was still conversing with Taynen. *** Tira doesn't respond, with the other Party members being the only ones that appeared to be present. ** Duna, Yeni and Whitefang set out in search of Tira, with Whitefang putting a frantic and pained Momo under sedation to rest from the noise. ** Vesh follows his gut to the Peace Enclave, specifically the Force nexus present there. * Duna, Yeni and Whitefang find Tira unconscious in the Executive Hangar ** Her rifle off to the side, and her left eye ripped from her socket, covered in some strange black mass that is also present on various parts of the floor. ** Yeni desperately tries to find some freezer-apparatus for the eye, as Vesh heads to the Enclave. * Inside the Enclave, Vesh witnesses a full manifestation of the Dread Masters. ** But not the 6 previously seen on Froz, only five of them, this time with Lady Devakir present among them. ** They begin to thank Vesh and his group for their actions, saying that it was long overdue for them to make a true appearance. ** They warned that the endgame was upon the Party, and they had best try their hardest lest they die failures as the galaxy collapses and is overrun. ** Devakir also motions to the other Masters, saying that truly they are grateful for the Party delivering 'these' unto them, as each Master reveals one of the artifacts, plus two previously unknown ones, within their hands. *** Last the Party knew, the Navicomputer was safe on the Station, with the Power Source hidden deep within the Tellik Library. ** A very commanding member of the Masters then spoke up, stating their time was brief, but it was oh so sweet to instill that little sliver of fear into Vesh's mind. *** He then states that he was glad it was brief, because they talk too much, and turned to leave. *** Only for him to be stopped by Devakir, his hands waving through her form, but still held rigidly in place. *** She pressed her finger to his forehead, reaching through to his prefrontal cortex. His vision then flooded with visions of somebody that wasn't revealed. *** The Masters, content but clearly insulted by his displays, bid farewell. * The vision ended, as everybody that would be expected suddenly re-appeared on the station as if nothing had happened. ** Wex Vio then answered the call hail, confused as to why Vesh seemed confused himself. ** He stated that there were some new arrivals, awaiting their meeting in Starfighter Operations. * Vesh then called for an Emergency Council Meeting immediately for those present. ** Meanwhile, Tira was treated, with her eye managing to be re-attached through nothing short of a miracle of the force, Trivia * The full list of locations on the Operation: Deva screen are as follows: ** In Location Order *** Ziost, Sith Space *** Dromund Kaas, Sith Space *** Korriban, Sith Space *** Csilla, Unknown Regions *** Mon Cala, Outer Rim *** Coruscant, Core Worlds *** Alderaan, Core Worlds *** Tython, Deep Core *** Kuat, Core Worlds *** Corellia, Core Worlds *** Selonia, Core Worlds *** Duro, Core Worlds *** Nar Shaddaa, Hutt Space *** Nal Hutta, Hutt Space *** OV-81 Coil, Outer Rim *** Tatooine, Outer Rim *** Christophsis, Outer Rim *** Ryloth, Outer Rim * The first session to give an indication of the scope of the Dread Masters plan. * Also the first session where all the Dread Masters made an appearance, albeit in-corporeally. Category:Campaign Category:Season 3 Category:Episode